Comments on: Traditional Firestarting Part I: How to Make Fire with Flint and Steelhttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/01/05/traditional-firestarting-part-i-how-to-make-fire-with-flint-and-steel/
Men's Interests and LifestyleTue, 31 Mar 2015 12:20:00 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1By: Carlylehttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/01/05/traditional-firestarting-part-i-how-to-make-fire-with-flint-and-steel/comment-page-1/#comment-1083059
Tue, 26 Aug 2014 20:59:00 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=14491#comment-1083059Char does not need to be left for hours or over night. As soon as the char container is cool to below ignition temperature, certainly by the time it can comfortably be held in bare hands, it can be opened.
]]>By: vhhttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/01/05/traditional-firestarting-part-i-how-to-make-fire-with-flint-and-steel/comment-page-1/#comment-572399
Fri, 07 Mar 2014 15:40:31 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=14491#comment-572399THANK YOU! This is exactly what I needed for a scene in the current novel I’m scribbling. Could not be better. :-D
]]>By: FireSteel.comhttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/01/05/traditional-firestarting-part-i-how-to-make-fire-with-flint-and-steel/comment-page-1/#comment-129535
Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:50:04 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=14491#comment-129535Yes, iron and other elements will spontaneously ignite upon contact with oxygen in the air. This is also known as “rusting” or oxidation.

When you break off a tiny piece of iron by hitting your your flint against a firesteel, that tiny piece of iron oxidizes as it flies through the air. The process of oxidation produces heat. Because a small particle has a very large surface area relative to its mass, while oxidizing it glows red hot for a short time due to the accumulated heat of oxidation.

We use high carbon steel for making firesteels because this kind of steel is brittle – making it easier to break off tiny pieces when struck with a flint or other hard object.

The “modern” firesteels contain rare earths such as the element cerium, which also oxidize upon contact with oxygen in the air. These are often rod shaped, come with or without a handle, and easily produce a huge shower of sparks – much easier to use than the steel and flint of yesteryear.

Survival experts and outdoorsmen have taken to carrying these modern firesteels as they are much easier to start fires with. One firesteel can light thousands of fires before wearing out, they work even wet, have no shelf life (as long as they are stored dry).

Dryer lint works great for tinder, especially after you dry some cotton flannel sheets. keeping a tin or film canister works great. Cattail fluff works pretty good too.

I also keep cotton balls infused with petroleum jelly and they work well for emergency starts (you can smear them on the bottom of a piece of kindling). All good ideas.

Charcoal instead of char cloth — yep, that works too and you have the advantage of not having to carry char cloth. I just find that char catches a spark easier, but that’s my experience. I need to expand my techniques, I think. Thanks for the kick in the bum. Something similar that I used to use out in the western deserts a split piece of yucca stalk, charred by a fire. You can carry that around easier than char (it’s less fragile) and it catches sparks beautifully.

I have magnesium strikers too, and keep one in my emergency bail out bag. If it’s windy, I find the shavings blow away unless you’re very careful (or lucky), and if you mis-strike and hit the leaf or whatever you’re using to catch the shavings…it’s over. The one-handed Gerber-like plunger types are better, I think. They throw a lot of sparks and work great with the aforementioned cotton/petroleum jelly combo.

A video…good idea. I will have to build another striker…I just gave mine away to a canoe guide in Ontario. I can also do a video of how to make char cloth, which is fun to do anyway.

I actually have a piece written on fire pistons but I probably won’t publish it here. They are cool, though, and I have a couple, one I built from leftover osage from a longbow project. Don’t use it too much, not sure why.

The question about fire by friction…there’s another article coming soon on AofM. Bow drill and hand drill. Fun stuff.

]]>By: Pathttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/01/05/traditional-firestarting-part-i-how-to-make-fire-with-flint-and-steel/comment-page-1/#comment-128347
Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:57:52 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=14491#comment-128347I like using flint and steel to start my camping stove. Turn on the gas and strike so the sparks land on the burner. It’s a whole lot safer than using a match and it doesn’t matter if it’s wet or windy.
]]>By: Tim Ravelinghttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/01/05/traditional-firestarting-part-i-how-to-make-fire-with-flint-and-steel/comment-page-1/#comment-128300
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:28:32 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=14491#comment-128300I just got a new firesteel for Christmas and spent quite some time trying to figure out how it works. Turns out it’s not actually the energy of the strike (or the friction of the strike) that causes the spark.

Iron is pyrophoric, which means that it heats up on contact with air, during the process of oxidation. That means if you have a big chunk of iron, only the very thin layer of material on the surface of the piece can heat up before it oxidizes, and the heat is dissipated throughout a large amount of metal.

When you use a flint, though, you chip off very tiny pieces of non-oxidized iron. Each of those particles has a large surface area relative to the amount of iron, which is very small. It’s that ratio that counts: the oxidation on a tiny particle of iron is enough to light it on fire at quite a high heat. That high heat is one of the reasons it works so well.

]]>By: Benhttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/01/05/traditional-firestarting-part-i-how-to-make-fire-with-flint-and-steel/comment-page-1/#comment-128160
Mon, 10 Jan 2011 22:18:02 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=14491#comment-128160I have a question to do with frequency of the strike, I find that it can be quite difficult without blindly striking very quickly, I must admit i have never been taught by anybody; I have read the basics, but last weekend i was trying to start a fire using the above method without any joy. I eventually gave up and used a match as everybody else I was camping with was ancy to get the fire under-way.
]]>By: Aaron maierhttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/01/05/traditional-firestarting-part-i-how-to-make-fire-with-flint-and-steel/comment-page-1/#comment-128085
Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:00:21 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=14491#comment-128085If anyone has done bow drilling before. Tell me what preference you have for fire boards I’ve used mine up and pine isn’t to nice to work with anymore
]]>By: Jeff Wagnerhttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/01/05/traditional-firestarting-part-i-how-to-make-fire-with-flint-and-steel/comment-page-1/#comment-128062
Fri, 07 Jan 2011 21:22:02 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=14491#comment-128062We have several video clips on the Wilderness Solutions website showing flint and steel without charcloth as well as fire by friction. http://www.wildersol.com/FlintSteel.html
]]>By: Tonyhttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/01/05/traditional-firestarting-part-i-how-to-make-fire-with-flint-and-steel/comment-page-1/#comment-128002
Fri, 07 Jan 2011 01:26:57 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=14491#comment-128002As a longbow and flintlock shooter I also agree that primitive skills are under used and appreciated these days. Small bits of charcol from an old fire serves the same purpose as the char cloth with the benefit of being more durable and longer burning. Like any primitive skill, practice prior to that skill being necessary is essential.
]]>